Fire apparatus



April 21, 1925.

J. B. BLAW FIRE APP ARATUS Filed Sept. 23, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet. l'

Jam!) 8. Blank Api-il 21,, 1925.;

. 1,534,761 J. B. BLAW FIRE APPARATUS Filed Sept. 25, 1924 2 Sheets-Shet2 lnvenfor- Jacob 5. B/aw \Kfforney.

::., To maycomemx 1.1.; mentinJFire Aplparatus, vof which Patented Apr.21, 1925.

UNITEPISTATES PATENT I oF ics d'acon' a. ntaw, or m mm qrrY, NEW.JERSEY.

FIRE APPARATUS.

" "Application filed September 23, 1924. Serial No 739,277.

Be it known that I, JACOB B. BLAw, a citizen of the United States, andresident of Atlantic.- City/ countyof Atlantic, State Of ew Jersey, haveinvented an lmlprofveilowing isa speci cation. a,

lMygl invention has particular reference to hoseflnozzle carrying.towers. for use in throwing a plurality "ofstreams of water 1, upon} afire without re uiringeconstant-at tentionl on]; the part 0 the firemen,and,

moreover, relates -to means for accomplish ingv this andotherurposeswhen embodied in a-ztruck upon vw ich thenozzlerholding devicesare mounted and constitute a part.

In'acarrying out myi invention, I provide a suitable truck; having-aframework at its upper part similar to a ladder construction, that is,longitudinal members with trans.-

. versev members and "to"which' latter are clamped upright.adjustabletower members t0 the upper end .of which there are arranged-apluralit .of nozzle clamping means for directing; an supporting I thenozzles I in predeterminedafixed-relations, the upwardly extending towermembers being preferably collfapsiblezand so attached to the transverseme bers ofthe truck that they may be collapsediandw-folded down upon thetruck at times,oftransportation.

pressuremains. w

- 7 As a further connectedzwhereby alwa'ter supply may be furnished,from fire'Gengines or from high feature of construction, the truck ais: provided I withwtransversely arranged frames" having secondary: firenozzle clamps atw'a lower :develthan the nozzle clamps onathetowei's,whereby a secondary out in the claims. 7

battery ofzr'nozzle throwing streams may be adjusted andbe'self-supporting .at a'lower level than the tower nozzles.

-' My invention 5 also Qcomprehends other fea turesof 1 constructionwhich, together with those above enumerated, are more fully describedherei 'naifter vand particularly pointed Referring to the drawings Eig.1 zisa-side elevation of a firetruck having my improved water towerconstruction applied thereto; F ig, 2 is anend elevation ofthe samelooking, toward the rear; ,Fig. 3: is a plan view of the general frameofthe truck and the water supply pipes thereon; and i Figs. 4 and 5areelevations of the towers respectively taken from points of view 90:apart, so as to give, in'efi'ect, endv and side views.

2'is the truck and is preferably motor driven.- It is provided with asuperstruc-Z 1;.

ture havingtransverse bars 3Ywhich may be'secured to the truck chassisin any Suit. i

able manner, as, for instance, in the downwardly rrextendlng side barportions 3 which may supportside operating platforms 8.

these being directly attachedto .theupper:

members of side bracket portions: 7 and adapted toi'sustain-thehosemenwhen erecting the tower and operating the nozzles.

Furthermore, the truck chassls may be'p'rovided wlthalongitudinal watermain 9, hav-,

ing at the rear end a plurality of valved'inlets 10 by which to receivethe water under pressure either by hose connections with a high pressurestreet-main orwwith-fire-engines, one suchhose connection'being shown at26 in dotted lines in Fig. 2. The forward end of this watermain on thetruck is pro vided with lateral branches 11, whose ends open from thesides of the truck-2, and are furnished with valved inlets 12, theseinlets I being Imefera'bly. for 'receiving further water supply in case.a largetnumber of streams are to be taken olf the fire nozzlessupported by the truck, asher'einafter expl'ained. These inlets 12 may,however, act

as outlets for: supplying water to the lire nozzles when desired. .Inaddition to these lateral branches, there may, ,besa plurality of,additional branches 13,ieaoh provided 1 witha plurality of valvedoutlets 14:, eighteen such outlets being shown, and from which hoseconnections maybe made to separatefire nozzlesqas shown in Fig. 2,

where hose section 25v suppliestfire nozzle 2 L and hosesection, 25suppliesxfire nozzle 24, by wayof example,

Extending upward from bylthe crossbars-S, are one or more'collapandsupported sible towers 6,.which, when raised, will sup- Port a plurality0f fire/nozzles. The elevated positions of these towers are shown bothin solid linesfland' indot-ted lines in Fig.1, and the= collapsedpositlon is also shown resulting from the dotted tower, the 1 v 16 uponwhich the fire nozzle holding clamps.

18 are adjust-ably secured, as shown more fully in Figs. i and .5-.:.The frames and.

15 are alike and each consists of spreading sideuprights securedtogether in spaced relation by cross bracing and having. their lowerendsprovided with detachable clamps 19: which have transverse holes andadjust able jaws for gripping one of the transverse bars 3) of the trucksuperstructure. These clamps 19, when securely gripped to the transversebars, hold. the two frames 15 and 15 in a spread condition at theirlower ends;. and said frames are further braced by the tie-rods 20 whichare hooked at their upper ends 21 to. the cross bracing of therespective framesand cross each other with their lower ends provided.with clamping jaws. 23 for detachable attachment also to the transversebars 3-, as shown. These tie rodsare further provided with turnbuckles22 for adjusting their length and enabling them to. be tightened when inclamped position.

During transportation, it is' desirable to collapse the towers so thatthey lie flat upon thetransverse bars 3" and. this may be done bydetaching the clamps 19 on the bottom of one of themain frames 15 forexample, from the transverse bar 3 and unhooking both. of, the tie rods20,- and thereupon folding the two frames 15 and. 15" upon each otherand: swinging them down inthe direction ofthe arrow Fig.1, whilemaintaining the hinge. connectionof the main frame 15 with thetransversebar 3" tofwhich it is attached. The tie rods 20 may also folddown, while maintaining? hinged connection with the transverse barstowhich they are respectively attached. It will. be manifest that thesetowers may bequickly erected by simply raisingthe main frames and spreading them: at tlie bottom, attaching the free frame: 15 to thepropertransverse bar 3.", hooking the tie rods 20. in position andtightening-them by the turn-buckles 22;

The crown heads 16'- contain: a plurality of sockets in which-separatefire nozzle clamps 18 are adjustably supported so .as to have universaladjustmentto enable the streams to be projected at any angle orelevation desired. I have-shown a desirable fornr of nozzle clamp:whichv I have found excellently suitable to. the purpose, but I do. notrestrict: myself to the special: form of nozzle clamp: shown. Thenozzles Qlare coupledi with-the-outlets 14 of the branches of thewatermain on thetruck -by hose sections-25,. one of which is shown. :This;arrangement permits free. adjustment of. the

fire nozzles since thehose sections freely yield to. compensate forchange of position in the. nozzles. These nozzles or any of them may besuppliedwith water from the main hose leading from the fire engines orhigh pressure mains, but I prefer in all cases to utilize the water mainon the truck and the short'fiexible hose sections 25 and 25 leadingtherefrom to the nozzles, as being more easy of adjustmentand' lessliable to displacement.

While the tru-ck' is provided with one or more towers, each: with aplurality of nozzle clamps, additional-nozzle clamps-'18 may bead-justably secured to the bracket frames' 7, one of which nozzle clampsis shown iii-Fig;

2, thenozzle 24 thereof being suppliedwith water: by a. shorthose-section 25f: coupling the nozzle-with oneof'the outlets 145. Thesebracket frames 'Z'may be of a permanent construction-where they supportthe longitudinal, platforms 8, otherwise they may he in the form ofdetachable nozzle supports of thecharacter more fully shown in mvapplication Serial Number'680g094, filed- Delcember' l2, -1-923,in-whichcase-they would be detachably clamped; to the. downwardly extending sidebarportions 3 of the superstructure of the truck frame.

It is further pointed out thatthe transverse bars 3 correspond to. therounds ofa ladder and hence, if the truckie required :to. carryaladdernin a horizontal position,

the. towers. may be clamped to-:-the ladder roundsinstead of thetransverse bars-3 this utilization of the ladder. for supporting thenozzle clamps being set out in my applications Serial Number 690,l19,.filed; February 4, 1924., andSerial Number 680,094, filed. De

cember 12, 1923, and; hence sofar as: the tower construction itself isconcerned, I'do not restrictmyself as to its base: of support. It will.now, be apparent that I have devised a novelanchuseful: construction.which embodies the features.- ot' aduantageennmeratedas desirable, and.while IV have in the present instance shown and described the preferred:embodiment thereof. which has beenfound in. practice to give.satisfactory and reliable results, it is. to be-underrstood: that I donot-restrict myself to. the details, asthe sameare susceptible ofmodifiication invarious particulars without depart.-

ingfrom the, spirit. or scope-of theinventiom there are, provided;apluralityi of transverse bars, combined. with. a pair of frameshingedat. the. top.- rela-tively to eachv other and; in connection with a vnozzle holding renown, said frames having at each. of their lower ends aplurality of clamping meanswidely separated for making; attachments withthe transverse bars and whereby they are hingedly connected so that byunclamping one of the frames the tower may be collapsed whereinfurther,the respective frames con-.

stituting the tower are each provided with a tie rod connected at apoint intermediate of the top and bottom of the frame to which it isattached, and said tie rods provided at their lower and free ends withclamping means whereby the tie rods cross each other and are detachablyclamped to the transverse bars at a distance from the clamping means ofthe tower frames to which they are con-' nected.

3. The invention according to claim 1, wherein the tower iscollapsiblein the directionbetween the front and rear of the truck andthe plurality of nozzle clamps in spaced relation are arranged upon thecrown in a plane corresponding to the length of the truck whereby thefire nozzles may have freedom for adjustable transverse positioning tocause the plurality of streams to be'thrown transversely to thelength ofthe truck.

4. The invention according to claim 1, wherein further, fire nozzles areprovided for the nozzle clamps, the truck is provided with water mainswith branch outlets and one or more inlets, and flexible hoseconnections between the branch outlets and the respective fire nozzles,the inlets adapted to receive water from a suitable source anddelivering it through the'water main to the respective nozzles and hoseleading thereto.

5. The invention according to claim 1, wherein there is provided at theside of the truck a plurality of laterally extending frames having attheir outer ends nozzle holding clamps, and suitable means carried onthe truck for supplying water to fire nozzles detachably clamped in therespective nozzle clamps of both the tower and the lateral frames.

6. The invention according to claim 1, wherein further, the truck isprovided on each side of the tower with an operating platform. a

7 The invention according to claim 1, wherein further, the two frames ofthe tower are further rigidly secured in position by means of crossingtie rods respectively attached to the two frames and by means of whichtension is applied thereto in opposite directions, said tie rods beingadaptedfor adjusting the tension applied.

8. device of the character stated, comprising a tower structurecomprising two parts jointed together at one end in connection with anozzle clamp holding head said parts having at their other end aplurality of widely spaced adjustable clamping means by which they maybe clamped on transverse bars. 7

9. The invention according to claim 8, wherein further, each of theparts is provided with a jointed tie rod having at its free end anadjustable clamp.

10. The invention according to claim 8, wherein further, each of theparts is provided with a jointed tie rod having at its free end anadjustable clamp, said tie rods being extensible in the direction oftheir length. 7

In testimony of which invention, I hereunto 'set my hand.

JACOB B. BLAW.

